What does 'Applicant' mean when buying a property?
Find out what Applicant means when you are buying a property. 'What does Applicant mean?' plus over 150 other property related terms and jargon in plain English
Applicant
A term most often used within an estate agency to describe potential buyers. In order to monitor their business they often analyze such trends such as "the number of new applicants last month" or the "total number of applicants currently registered".
They will also use these figures when they try to persuade a potential vendor to list their property with the agent.
They may also give this data to research companies who aggregate them with other agent to get a feel for the current market. It's where quotes like "There are currently 10 applicants to every property on the market" come from.
If you want to learn how to be the applicant at the top of every agent's pile when a new property comes onto the market then pick up a copy of my ebook How to Really Buy a Property.
Search Results for 'applicant' in
How to Really Buy a Property
Chapter 2:
The Media and Property Prices
"... what is happening to the housing market. Here are just a few:
Land registry;
Asking prices (as reported by agents);
New applicants registering (as reported by agents);
Mortgage application numbers (as reported by lenders);
Average incomes and so percentage of income used to pay..."
Chapter 4:
Understanding the Property Market
"... is a rough outline and not to be taken in absolute terms. Sometimes, for example, there are more properties on the market than there are active applicants. The pattern in the graph also represents 'price agreed' - what is actually happening in real time. Experience teaches you the traditional cycle but there is no resource on the web or otherwise to tell if, for example, the market has reached the bottom of the summer slow down or the top of the spring rise. The figures that you see reported statistically are usually completions or mortgage applications and these can refer to sales which were agreed any time from one week to six months..."
Chapter 10:
Working with Estate Agents
"... an example a negotiator may be registering ten new people by 'phone every day and getting two emails from applicants who want details sent in the post because they are thinking of moving in the next three months. Who do you think he will spend time with? This is also the reason why so many potential buyers never receive the details they request. Its not excuse making, it is simply the reality of a market where you are dealing with people paid on commission for what they sell...."
Chapter 14:
Viewing Properties and Making Offers
"... -
It is an incredible thought that many of the viewings on properties are carried out by agents who have absolutely no idea what the applicant is looking for or if they can afford anything more than a broom cupboard in Aberdeen. A typical telephone conversation can look something like this:
..."
"... the tables for a moment and imagine you are selling a property. For the security of the property you really want an agent that will make sure the applicants appear to be genuine rather than someone casing your place to identify expensive items. You will also want an agent who only shows serious applicants around the property, not your curious neighbours while you are out at..."
"... while you are out at work!
When it's put this way it suddenly begs the question, why doesn't every agent qualify their applicants? This is covered in Why Vendors Choose Bad Agents. For now its worth knowing the two documents that are requested the most:
An Agreement in Principle or Pre..."
"... affect on the value
80 to 100 years: again almost any lender will approve this but the perception of buyers may be that it is difficult to resell reducing the number of potential applicants interested. Note that any affect on price here is caused by perception, not reality
70 to 80 years:..."
Chapter 15:
How to Really Make an Offer on a Property
"... to their absolute maximum budget and to the large part they are actually wrong.
The agent simply wants to get the deal agreed in a way that he can be sure no one else in his office will gazump his applicant, you.
To put it another way if the Estate Agent is being paid 2% of the sale fee and..."
Chapter 23:
Why Vendors Choose Bad Estate Agents
"... property has not been advertised regularly
Your property is not in their front window
They have not had many viewings
Some other agent may have different applicants
They got a low offer
Slow preparation of the details - Many vendors get sidetracked by the details. If the negotiators in..."
"... Slow preparation of the details - Many vendors get sidetracked by the details. If the negotiators in the agent are well motivated they won't be waiting for details to get their hot applicants into your property. If they hesitate their colleague will be faster and get the deal (and the money).
..."
"... property has not been advertised regularly - Good agency is not about shoving your property in a newspaper, taking the calls, doing the viewings and agreeing an offer. Good agency is about taking the constant stream of applicants registering and matching them to the properties on the market. It is naive to think that one photograph in the local paper will solve everything. It is far more likely to create a spate of viewings from window shoppers. A good agent will filter these out which means that despite having received many calls, very few viewings will actually occur. If a buyer is serious they will already have registered with that agent..."
"... have not had many viewings - If the negotiators are motivated and the agent is solid then the staff will be busy. They will know that poorly qualified applicants result in lots of viewings but very little business. If the staff are paid on commission they will want to stay focused on only taking the right people to the right properties. A classic case is the vendor who has a two bedroom flat where the second bedroom is very small. A bad agent will drag every two double bedroom applicant round there and then tell you the feedback is that the second bedroom is too small. A good agent will ask the applicant, at registration, why they need the second bedroom. If it is too rent out they will discount your property. Much fewer but much more focused..."
"... agent may have different applicants - If you have instructed at least two good agents the chances of a third agent actually having someone different are pretty remote. Many vendors change agent simply for peace of mind that they are actually doing something. In reality if you go under offer quickly this is more luck than anything..."
